Sony Electronics US President Stan Glasgow has revealed that the company is currently in talks with software giant Microsoft with regards to the Blu-ray format. No specific products were mentioned, but it is expected that Microsoft will offer a Blu-ray X-box 360 Add-on, similar to what they offered for the now dead HD DVD format. As it stands, Microsoft's gaming console is at a distinct disadvantage to Sony's PlayStation 3 which includes a Blu-ray player in every console.
Sony is also in talks with Apple, who has been extremely quite about offering Blu-ray drives despite being a part of the Blu-ray Disc Association. It was rumored that Apple was prepared to offer a Blu-ray drive with the latest upgrade of their MacBook Pro laptops, but that there were size and power consumption issues. It is expected that Apple will incorporate Sony's new drives, which are much smaller and use less power, this summer when they are released.
Additionally, Sony predicts that the price of Blu-ray players will fall to $299 by the end of the year. This is not much of a stretch, with the upcoming
Sony BDP-S350 carrying a retail price of $399 and coming out way before the 2008 holiday season.